Wake-up call on racism needed

Lucy Hughes Jones

When Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes was the target of a racial slur on the field last month it prompted a media storm around the sportsman and the young Collingwood fan responsible.

But there was too little debate about how to move forward, how to make sure such remarks are corrected and how to make sure they are not made in the first place, according to Shane Houston, the University of Sydney's deputy vice-chancellor, indigenous strategy and services.

Connection: A performer from the Wandabaa Gabiny Dancers at the university on Friday.

''It's possible to make a statement out of ignorance, and not be racist,'' he said. ''That's why education is such an important element in the process of building a more inclusive society in Australia.''

Questions about how educational institutions can better address racism and ignorance in Australian society were a driving force behind a new initiative for ''cultural competence''. The university will establish the national centre for cultural competence with an initial grant of $5.6 million, it announced at an event on Friday, to provide leadership, training, research and support on cultural understanding.

''The essence of cultural competence is having the ability to think, thrive, work and communicate ethically and effectively in spaces where there is more than one culture in play,'' Professor Houston said.

The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, said developing skills for cross-cultural interaction not only had domestic relevance but was ''absolutely imperative if we're going to be part of the Asian century''.

Emeritus Professor Triggs stressed that cultural competence is integral to the way our nation does business regionally, and for diplomatic exchange in managing asylum seekers, one of the greatest human rights problems Australia faced now.

''Unless we learn to work with our neighbours and understand their perspectives and their own cultural issues we're never going to resolve this question of asylum seekers and movements of peoples to Australia,'' she said.

The university also announced a further $5.7 million for the ''Breadwinners'' initiative to provide financial aid to indigenous students who are supporting a family to go full-time in the final two years of their degree.